Chelsea Street Art Gallery Perry Rubenstein Moving to L.A.

Perry Rubenstein, whose same-named gallery used to occupy the storefront space at 527 West 23rd Street in Chelsea, has moved to Los Angeles and, the L.A. Times‘ Culture Monster blog reports, he’s taking his gallery with him. This leaves only a couple of Chelseagalleries showing top-notch street art.

Perry Rubenstein Gallery’s 23rd Street space has been dark for months, but it had gained a reputation for showcasing, among other things, some very good street art, including last summer’s collage-themed group show Shred and a subsequent show by Bushwick-based street art collective Faile (pictured).

Rubenstein, whose new space is a renovated film supply storage warehouse that will boast 8,500 square feet, 30 parking spaces and an expansive rooftop sculpture garden when it opens “in time for next year’s Oscars,” told the L.A. Times, “New York has very limited possibilities in terms of what you can do with gallery space.” He also declared that L.A.’s days as America’s second city for art are over:

I’m making a much more definitive statement about L.A. by making this our flagship gallery… It’s no longer the sideshow; it’s no longer second to New York as an arts capital.

So far the only artist on Rubenstein’s left coast roster is photographer Zoe Crosher, although we hear that Angeleno street artist Shepard Fairey needs a dealer…